insinuate

UK/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/US/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Other forms: insinuating, insinuated, insinuates

To insinuate is to hint at something unpleasant without ever saying it outright. The accusation is in the air and not on the record.

The deniability is the whole technique, which is why what exactly are you insinuating is one of the standard confrontations in English. It takes a that-clause. There is a second and physical sense, since insinuating yourself into a group means working your way in gradually and unnoticed, and it is always disapproving. The noun is insinuation and the adjective insinuating describes a manner.

Definitions of insinuate

1verbinsinuateTo suggest something unpleasant indirectly.C2
“He seemed to insinuate that the money had been taken.”

Also accepted in games: imply

Where it comes from

Insinuate goes in by the fold. Latin sinus meant a bay, a bend or the fold of a garment, and īnsinuāre was to creep into one, so the word describes a route rather than a message.

Latin
īnsinuātus
English, today
insinuate

Built from

īnsinuō · Latin — to push in, creep in, steal in
in- · Latin — in
sinus · Latin — a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom

1529; Latin īnsinuātus, perfect passive participle of īnsinuō (“to push in, creep in, steal in”) (see -ate and -ate), from in- (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”) -ō. Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

← Vocabulary

insinuate

UK/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/US/ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Other forms: insinuating, insinuated, insinuates

To insinuate is to hint at something unpleasant without ever saying it outright. The accusation is in the air and not on the record.

Definitions of insinuate

1verbinsinuateTo suggest something unpleasant indirectly.C2
“He seemed to insinuate that the money had been taken.”

Also accepted in games: imply

Where it comes from

Insinuate goes in by the fold. Latin sinus meant a bay, a bend or the fold of a garment, and īnsinuāre was to creep into one, so the word describes a route rather than a message.

Latin
īnsinuātus
English, today
insinuate

Built from

īnsinuō · Latin — to push in, creep in, steal in
in- · Latin — in
sinus · Latin — a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA